Ep. 4.9 “The Watchers on the Wall”

The Night’s Watch protects the realms of men, but who will protect the Night’s Watch?  I guess we’ll get an answer to that question tonight.  This episode will be completely devoted to the wildling attack on the wall like the Battle of Blackwater Bay back in season 2.  One hundred thousand men against one hundred doesn’t sound like very good odds.

Jon and Sam are keeping watch on the Wall.  Sam asks what Ygritte was like.  He wants to know what it is like to be with someone that way since they are all about to die.  Sam points out that there is no specific vow they make as black brother’s to never lay with a woman, they just don’t take a wife or father children.  So according to him, it’s left open to interpretation.  Jon tries to explain what it’s like to be intimate with someone, but can’t quite express the words.  He sends Sam down to get some sleep and an owl appears on the wall.

Around a campfire, Tormund Giantsbane recounts the time he slept with a female bear.  Ygritte tells him that he is full of it and to shut up.  Magnar of Thenn tells her he thinks she won’t kill her crow lover so she tells everyone there that Jon Snow is hers to kill and if any one of them touches him she will put an arrow in them.

Sam and Maester Aemon have a talk in the library.  Sam wants to know more about the wildlings.  Maester Aemon says Sam wants to know more about what may have happened to the girl he loves.  Sam claims he doesn’t love Gilly, but Maester Aemon says he could tell by Sam’s voice when he first brought Gilly to Castle Black.  Maestor Aemon says he was in love once.  He reminds Sam that he could have been king if he had said the word and talks about a girl he was once infatuated with.  He tells Sam to go get some sleep.  As Sam leaves the library he hears Gilly trying to get in the gate.  He tells Pyp to let her in.  Sam promises to keep her safe and stay with her and then the horns are sounded and it’s time for battle.  Sam gets Gilly to safety.  She wants Sam to stay with her, but he says he can’t abandon his brothers.  He kisses her and she makes him promise he won’t die.

Jon goes to the edge of the Wall and sees Mance Rayder’s huge fire.  The men scramble to get the barrels of pitch ready.  Jon runs into Ser Alliser who says he was wrong and they should’ve barricaded the gate when they had the chance.  He tells Jon when you’re a leader everyone questions you, but if you lose faith in yourself then you are lost.  So he can’t listen to all the little twats that try and tell him what to do.  He says he thinks they will make it through and Jon can go on hating him and he can wish that Jon’s wildling girl had finished the job. 

Giant mammoth’s approach the Wall from the North, but then the Watch realizes they are being attacked from inside the Wall as well.  Ser Alliser decides to go down and leaves Janos Slynt in charge of the Wall.  Ser Alliser gets to the bottom and leads a charge at the gate and actually makes a good speech that makes me like him for a second. 

Back up top, Janos Slynt is blubbering about how the wildlings have no formal training and how he commanded the City Watch in Kings Landing.  Jon tries to persuade him to stop the wildlings from attacking the gate, but he says it’s too thick and they’ll never get through.  Jon reminds him that the wildlings have giants, which they can see, but Janos says giants are only tales for children.  Grenn pretends Ser Alliser has called Slynt below and he runs off.  Jon is now in charge of the Wall.

The wildlings are climbing the Wall while the Night’s Watch below are slaughtered.  Janos Slynt runs and hides like a coward and ends up in the room with Gilly.  Ygritte is on the lookout for Jon and kills Pyp who dies in Sam’s arms.  The giants use the mammoth to tear down the gate below the Wall.  Jon sends Grenn and four men down to hold the fourth gate.  He tells Grenn the wildlings must not get through.  Tormund Giantsbane and Ser Alliser face each other and Ser Alliser falls and is dragged away to safety.

Sam picks up Pyp’s crossbow and kills a Thenn.  The poor kid running the elevator is hiding.  Sam gets him to help him up to the top of the wall.  They drop barrels of pitch onto the mammoth along with fire and it runs off.  Then someone gets an arrow through one of the giants.  The other giant gets pissed off and breaks through another layer of gate.  Jon gives the Wall to Ed and grabs Longclaw.  Grenn works to hold the gate below, but the giant gets through the third.  Some of the men want to run, but Grenn starts staying their vows and they find their courage.  Jon gets Sam to let Ghost out.  Magnar of Thenn attacks Jon and almost kills him until Jon puts a hammer into his head.  Then he runs into Ygritte.  She stares at him and he wonders if she will shoot him, but then she gets shot with an arrow by another crow and dies.  As she dies she tells him they should’ve stayed in the cave.

The wildlings are still climbing the Wall so Ed drops a big anchor looking thing that knocks off part of the Wall and kills the climbers.  Inside, Tormund has arrows in his back and is running around crazily.  Jon tells him to surrender, but he won’t.  Jon hits him with another arrow and knocks him down.  He tells the men to put him in chains.

Sam goes to check on Gilly and finds Janos Slynt crouched in a corner.  The men think they’ve done well by making it through the night, but Jon knows Mance has more giants and more men and will come again that night.  He decides to go try and kill Mance so the wildlings will go back to fighting with each other.  Sam doesn’t want him to go because he knows that Mance will not give Jon an easy death.  They find Grenn dead.  Jon tells Sam to burn the bodies so they don’t come back as white walkers.  He gives Sam Longclaw in case he doesn’t come back.  (Um, at least take Ghost with you!)  Sam tells him to come back.  Jon goes to walk out of the gate and white light…

End credits…

WTF!  One more episode left and there is a lot to cover.  What questions will they leave us with?  And why didn’t Jon take Ghost with him?  At least Jon’s leadership skills finally get to shine and he didn’t have to kill Ygritte himself.  Will we have to wait a year to see if the Night’s Watch still stands?

Until next time!

#gameofthrones